Finding an Outlet for Her Russian Soul

'I would like to speak Russian with you" were among the last words written by Katherine Mansfield. The New Zealand-born writer never went to Russia but had a lifelong passion for everything Russian that she constantly mentioned in her letters and notebooks. She liked to wear Russian clothes, used Russian versions of her name (Katerina, Katya, Katyusha), smoked Russian cigarettes, was passionate about Russian music, and her literary love affairs with Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Anton Chekhov strongly influenced her writing.

In Katerina: The Russian World of Katherine Mansfield, Joanna Woods presents the Russian perspective within the framework of a beautifully written general biography. So much has been written about this master of the short story that any new book will inevitably include much that is already known, yet Woods includes fresh material that sheds new light on Mansfield's life, particularly during her last months.

Katherine Mansfield was born on Oct. l4, l888, in Wellington, New Zealand. There was nothing Russian about her family or childhood, and her youth was shaped by the cultural and social traditions of Victorian England and the dramatic beauty of New Zealand. Her authoritarian father was a successful businessman and her parents were part of Wellington society.

In July l908, Mansfield left New Zealand for London and never returned. She was lonely in England; the bohemian life of which she had dreamed was not as enjoyable as she had imagined, and her promiscuous personal life brought little comfort.

Instead, that same year she cemented her love for Russia -- in part due to Sergei Diaghilev's Russian opera seasons and his Ballet Russe, which was sweeping through European capitals. Mansfield attended performances of the Russian ballet and went to concerts of Russian music. She had discovered Russian literature as a child and the allure was to last a lifetime. A writer who was to be known for her stories of psychological conflict, she was convinced that Russians experienced life with the same intensity she did. Tolstoy's powerful narratives overwhelmed her. " ... I feel I can't be grateful enough to [Tolstoy]. By grateful I mean full of praise to him for his works." After reading Dostoevsky's "The Possessed," she wrote of the "vague sidelights and shadowy impressions" that he used to illuminate character. These were to become hallmarks of her creative process.

But the most important person and influence in Mansfield's life and writing was Anton Chekhov. He was not just a writer she admired but also a fellow consumptive who would have understood her physical sufferings and fears. She frequently "talked" with him in her notebooks. "Ach, [Chekhov]! Why are you dead! Why can't I talk with you ... " In a letter to her husband, John Middleton Murry, she wrote: "But I really suffered such AGONIES from loneliness and illness combined that I'll never be quite whole again ... [Chekhov] would understand."

Much has been written about Mansfield's "borrowings" from Chekhov, and critics accuse her of plagiarism. Woods weighs various scholarly accusations and arguments, pro and con, with intelligent balance. She argues that Mansfield's talent transformed the "borrowings." Gathering pollen from others is acceptable if one turns it into honey.

Woods also argues that Russians who learned of her subject's imitations simply considered them the sincerest form of flattery. The first Russian translation of one of 'Ketrin Mensfild's stories appeared in a Soviet newspaper in September l922, unbeknownst to its author, three months before her death at George Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at Fontainebleau in France. There she spent the last few months of her life surrounded at last by the magical Russian world that had captured her imagination since childhood.

The institute was housed in a chateau surrounded by a lovely park. About 40 people -- chiefly Russian intellectuals -- lived and worked there, looking after the grounds, the animals, the vegetable and flower gardens and cooking, making music and dancing.

Upon Gurdjieff's instructions, Mansfield ate, walked in the garden, picked flowers and rested. After years spent in lonely lodgings driving herself to write, Mansfield found this warm community life enchanting.

In l923, her death from tuberculosis provoked an outpouring of articles in the Western press comparing her to Chekhov. This Russian link aroused the interest of the official Soviet literary world, and that same year the State Publishing House produced two selections of Mansfield's work in Russian. Later, her sympathy with the underdogs of society earned her official approval. In the l960s, the two best-known English-language textbooks of the period used abridged versions of "A Cup of Tea" as grammatical exercises.

According to Woods, it was "the elegance of Katherine's style and the charm of the Edwardian world that she depicted that captivated Soviet readers." The style and content of Woods' book are equally captivating.

"Katerina: The Russian World of Katherine Mansfield," by Joanna Woods. 320 pages. 39.95 New Zealand dollars. Published by Penguin Books and also available through Anglia Bookshop, 2/3 Khlebny Pereulok, Tel. 203-5802.

Nina Lobanov-Rostovsky is a freelance writer and lecturer living in London.